Although the Block 11 (until August 1941 designated Block 13) was quickly dubbed 'Block of Death' by the prisoners due to its function. It was also called 'Bunker' after the informal nickname of the holding cell area used by both prisoners and some camp authorities. However, its official designation was 'Kommandanturarrest' (Commander's Office Jail) and, as the name suggests it was a place of isolation for people who could have had important information (often captured members of Polish resistance or people arrested under the suspicion of supporting them) or people who have broken some formal or informal rules in the camp. Given the brutal realities of the camp living, incarceration in the Camp's jail most often than not led to an execution by shooting on hanging in the block's courtyard or death in the hunger cells, hence the ominous nickname of this particular building.

The sign with the 'Block of Death' inscription is a post-war addition, intended to indicate the purpose of the building for the people visiting the former camp. Initially, slightly different plaques (white with black lettering) were used when the camp has been opened to the public in July 1947, after the best-preserved part of the Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz complex has been designated as a National Museum and Memorial in the Act of 2nd July 1947. Similarly, Block 5 containing an exposition of the items taken from the prisoners has been marked with the plaque 'Kanada' (after a common nickname of the warehouse storing all such items during the war) and the Block 2, containing the visual information concerning the Holocaust was marked as 'Martyrdom of Millions'. The plaques, much like most if not all information at the time were written in Polish, as the exposition was made with local population in mind, especially given that the foreign travel was severely restricted for political reasons. Sometime later (possibly in early 1970s) the plaques were replaced with new ones, showing while letters on black background and a simpler typeface. Recently they were removed altogether and like in the case of other building and objects present in the camp, the function and history of the Block 11 is summarized on a large information plate bearing the text in Polish, English and Hebrew.

Piper, F., Świebocka, T., (Eds.) Auschwitz - Nazistowski obóz śmierci [Auschwitz - Nazi Death Camp], Auschwitz-Birkenau National Museum, Oświęcim 2012.